On April 30th, teams of volunteers from four area Catholic churches simultaneously presented the first draft of a plan to merge their congregations. Parishioners from Saint Ann and Saint Louis of Cleveland Heights and Christ the King and Saint Philomena of East Cleveland gathered at their respective churches to hear the report. Those at Saint Ann were generally receptive to the recommendation that all four churches combine to form one parish. The parish would have two campuses, one at Saint Ann and the other at Saint Philomena. Saint Louis and Christ the King would close and the number of priests currently serving the four parishes would be reduced from four to two.

As Heights citizens join thousands of people across the country to celebrate National Preservation Month this May they join a growing movement of individuals who are working to protect the unique character of their neighborhoods.

Throughout May 2008, the National Trust (www.nationaltrust.org) and its thousands of partners across the country will demonstrate the importance of our nation’s heritage as they highlight the preservation movement. The theme of this year’s month-long celebration is “This Place Matters” and the City of Cleveland Heights Landmark Commission, FutureHeights and the Cleveland Heights Historical Society will present a lecture and two tours to celebrate our community and encourage historic preservation of its architectural beauty.

Cleveland Heights is no different than many other struggling cities. With both federal and state budgets strained, Cleveland Heights is feeling the pinch. Budget cuts are on the horizon. After soundly defeating Issue 29, a proposed income tax increase, City Council has aggressively begun to address fiscal challenges facing the city.

The future of the former Coventry Elementary School property is being studied by a nineteen member volunteer committee which has been meeting since March 3rd.

With three meetings of a six meeting schedule completed, the Coventry School Study Committee hopes to present one, or several, recommendations for the property’s use to the Board of Education on May 20th.

The Heights Arts Collaborative, a Cleveland Heights arts organization, has a vision for re-using the Coventry school building that calls for the creation of a model community arts center incorporating strong partnerships, diverse programming, and the formation of an umbrella organization to oversee it all.

On the bayou, they call this a Fais Do-Do. Cleveland Independents is calling it N’awlins Night. Whatever you call it, it’s going to be one heck of an evening.

Grey skies and a few rain drops didn't keep a record number of attendees from the 12th Annual Cleveland Heights High School Alumni Foundation's Pancake Breakfast. Over 500 guests dined on all you can eat pancakes and then took tours of Heights High, taking in the latest in renovations. Proceeds from the breakfast help to support scholarships the Foundation awards to graduating seniors, with nearly $20,000 to be awarded this spring.

As the new executive director of FutureHeights, I am very excited to be leading this organization as we embark upon the exciting project of creating a hyperlocal news resource for our community.

The Coventry School Study Committee continued its fact-finding and discussion on March 18th, at the CHUH Board of Education. Facilitator William Wendling opened the meeting by announcing a recently discovered deed restriction. The property consisting of the Coventry PEACE Playground area and west to the street is classified as "public school" property.

It almost sounds like Cleveland Heights . . . about four years ago, the near-west-side community of Lakewood found itself embroiled in controversy over a plan to develop land overlooking the Rocky River--land that would have to be taken by eminent domain because some of the homeowners who lived there weren’t interested in selling. As the heated discussion took place on a community web site, three guys--one of them vehemently opposed to the project, another adamantly in favor, and a third remaining neutral--decided it was time to launch a community newspaper in which discussions such as these as well as other important civic matters could reach a broader audience than a web site could. The Lakewood Observer was born, a printed expression of that diversity of opinion.

Turn on the local TV news at 6 p.m. and you won’t find it. Flip through the pages of any local “news” paper, free or otherwise, and you won’t feel satisfied. Sit down at your computer, search for “Cleveland Heights Local News,” then sift through banners and pop-up ads, and you might get lucky. You would probably learn more while sipping a mocha at the local coffee shop, or walking down your sidewalk hoping to encounter a talkative neighbor. All you want to know is what someone (anyone) in your community thinks about the new housing development being built down the street, or when that new restaurant on Lee Road is going to open, or when that pot-hole riddled road around the corner is going to be repaired.

None of this news is terribly important on a national or even regional level, but it is, perhaps, the information that is most relevant to your daily experience. And, it is information that has not been easy to find.

Cleveland Heights, Ohio--The HeightsObserver.org made its debut on March 5, 2008. A nonprofit venture in citizen journalism and participatory democracy, the web site will provide ultra-local community news and information to the 65,000 residents of Cleveland Heights and University Heights, Ohio.

Cleveland Heights residents spoke loudly on March 4, 2008 as they defeated Issue 29, a ballot initiative that would have raised the city’s income tax rate. The proposed measure would have increased the Cleveland Heights income tax 0.4% from the current 2% tax to 2.4%.

 

Issue 29, proposed and highly supported by the Cleveland Heights City Council, had become a controversial measure citywide and was one of two local tax increase measures that Heights residents had to consider.